In episode 747, Rob Walling interviews Jane Portman, co-founder of Userlist, to discuss the evolution of their SaaS customer success strategy. Jane shares the four stages of Userlist’s customer success journey, from the early days of trial and error to implementing done-for-you services. They also discuss the challenges of customer onboarding for complex products.

• (2:20) – How customer success works at Userlist
• (5:27) – Dealing with upfront onboarding friction
• (9:51) – Stage 1, “young and naive”
• (12:16) – Stage 2, “hire someone”
• (19:06) – Stage 3, “done for you services”
• (25:47) – Leveraging the Userlist blog
• (29:26) – Stage 4, “developing your own frameworks”

• SaaS Institute
• TinySeed
• Jane Portman (@uibreakfast) | X
• Jane Portman (@uibreakfast.com) | Bluesky
• Userlist
• Episode 471 | Fighting to Gain Traction in a Crowded Space with Jane Portman of Userlist
• Episode 742 | Normalizing Hard Things, Facing Your Biggest Threat, and Making it Fast (A Rob Solo Adventure)
• Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore
• Userlist Closes a Pre-Seed Round with 21 Angel Investors
• SaaS Email Marketing Strategy: Everything You Need to Know
• 20+ “Invite Your Team” Email Examples
• Atomic Emails: Our Proven Method for Writing Email Campaigns

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify

In episode 746, Rob Walling looks ahead to 2025 with nine startup predictions, exploring trends in no-code tools, search, autonomous vehicles, AI, and an increase in platform risk for bootstrapped founders.

• (1:52) – Carrying forward predictions from 2024
• (3:09) – Search volume for Google organic SEO
• (6:34) – Ads in AI interfaces
• (7:50) – Google’s revenue drops, bootstrapper opportunities
• (10:07) – “AI” use in H1’s
• (14:01) – Self-driving taxis
• (19:28) – Platform risk intensifies

• Exit Strategy: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Selling Your Business Without Regret
• Episode 697 | 7 Predictions for SaaS Bootstrappers in 2024
• Episode 725 | SEO in the Age of AI, Freemium, When Brand Becomes Important, and More Advanced Listener Questions (with Ruben Gamez)
• LINKLO
• TinySeed
• Episode 735 | The 8 Levels of SaaS Platform Risk (A Rob Solo Adventure)

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify

In episode 745, Rob Walling goes solo to reflect on 2024. He revisits key concepts and frameworks introduced on the podcast, including the 2-20-200 Validation Framework, Orthogonal SaaS, and the eight levels of platform risk. Rob also looks back at his top five favorite episodes and reviews his predictions for the year—some of which came to pass, and others that didn’t.

• (2:05) – Looking back at concepts and frameworks from past 12 months
• (8:50) – Rob’s 5 favorite episodes
• (11:56) – Reflecting on 2024 accomplishments
• (19:47) – TinySeed Tales Returns in 2025
• (21:18) – Evaluating 2024 predictions

• The SaaS Launchpad – Start Free with “The DNA of a Great SaaS Idea”
• MicroConf YouTube Channel
• Episode 706 | 2/20/200 Validation, Prior Art, and Designing by Committee (A Rob Solo Adventure)
• TinySeed
• Vertical SaaS vs Horizontal SaaS - Which is More Profitable?
• Episode 735 | The 8 Levels of SaaS Platform Risk (A Rob Solo Adventure)
• The SaaS Playbook
• Episode 728 | Bootstrapping Gymdesk to a More Than $32.5M Exit
• Episode 706.5 | Rethinking My Most Common Advice
• Episode 729 | 9 Things I’ve Learned Investing in 170+ SaaS Companies
• Episode 709 | The 7 Greatest Investments of My Life
• Episode 694 | 2023 In Review: Amazing Growth & Fighting Burnout
• How Ben Chestnut Bootstrapped Mailchimp to a $12 Billion Exit
• MicroConf New Orleans 2025
• Start Small, Stay Small by Rob Walling
• Exit Strategy: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Selling Your Business Without Regret
• TinySeed Tales